Academics

George Mason University Launches First Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics Degree in Virginia

mthomp7 — Tue, 04 May 2021 15:19:21 +0000

George Mason University Launches First Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics Degree in Virginia mthomp7 Tue, 05/04/2021 - 11:19

In This Story

Janusz Wojtusiak, PhD

Health informatics is among the fastest-growing undergraduate degrees in the U.S.

The George Mason University College of Health and Human Services is proud to announce the launch of the first stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics degree in Virginia. The degree integrates health sciences, information technology, computer science, data science, and behavioral science. This interdisciplinary program is designed to provide graduates with practical, specialized skills in health informatics to improve individual care and public health. “The BS in Health Informatics was created to improve the public’s health by applying useful health information while providing employers with early-career professionals who can enter the field directly,” said Janusz Wojtusiak, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy and program director for health informatics. The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) noted the need for “efforts to develop basic health informatics training and education… to accelerate health care’s transformation by collecting, analyzing, and applying data directly to care decisions.” Graduates of the program will be prepared to work as part of interdisciplinary professional teams, biomedical research teams, and public health agencies to improve population health.

The George Mason University College of Health and Human Services is proud to announce the launch of the first stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics degree in Virginia.

Health informatics graduates work across skillsets and silos to address challenges such as adoption of electronic health records, data collection and analysis, and technical support. The combination of technical and soft skills combined with the interdisciplinary nature of the skills makes health informatics professionals at stages in their career highly sought-after.

According to Hanover Research, informatics and health degrees are among the fastest-growing undergraduate degrees in the country. (2018)[i] The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the demand for medical record and health information management skillsets is projected to grow by 8% in the next 10 years - which is much faster than average.[ii]

The 120-credit hour program will include intensive experiential learning requirements—a signature component of all programs in the College. A pre-internship course prepares students with the skills and knowledge to identify, apply for, and obtain an approved internship. Students work closely with preceptors and faculty in their field to get the most from their internship experience. HAP faculty maintain extensive relationships with practicum sites that provide real-world experience for students such as community-based health clinics, public health agencies, and health insurers. Students can also choose an accelerated BS to MS in health informatics option that allows for program completion in about 5 years for the combined BS-MS.

“HAP faculty invest heavily in making sure students have a successful internship experience. We help connect students with internship placements that meet their interests and provide ongoing mentorship to ensure their long-term success. Mentors help synthesize experiences and learn from the on-the-job training and apply what they are learning in class to the real world,” says P.J. Maddox, Chair of the Department of Health Administration and Policy. “Faculty’s relationships and connections throughout the industry create rich practicum opportunities.”

“While there are currently no external accreditation standards for undergraduate health informatics programs, we will seek such accreditation when available, to complement our CAHIIM-accredited Master of Science in Health Informatics program.” said Wojtusiak. “Bachelor’s degree in health informatics is a natural progression of health informatics at Mason which in addition to the bachelor’s degree offers Master’s degree, a PhD concentration, graduate certificate and a minor”, he added. With a growing focus on expanding public health degree programs in Virginia, George Mason University is also the first in the Commonwealth to offer an accredited PhD in Public Health degree. Strong collaborations between health informatics and public health faculty and students are part of the interdisciplinary nature of the college.

The program will launch in Fall 2021. Information regarding the program and requirements can be found in the 2021 George Mason University Course Catalog.

About the College of Health and Human Services

George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. George Mason is the fastest-growing Research I institution in the country. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,370 graduate students in its nationally recognized offerings, including: 6 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 7 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.

[i] Hanover Research, Top 10 Undergraduate Degree on the Rise and the Decline, 2018.

https://www.hanoverresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/HED1G0118_Undergraduate-degree-rise-and-decline-Infographic_2_27_18.pdf?utm_source=March+28%2C+2018+eNewsletter+&utm_campaign=10.25+newsletter&utm_medium=email#:~:text=Informatics%20is%20the%20number%20one,other%20fields%20and%20disciplines%20increases.&text=Health%20profession%20degrees%20represent%203,over%20the%20five%2Dyear%20period.

[ii] Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-records-and-health-information-technicians.htm

Topics

Academics

Health Informatics

CHHS News

Population Health Center’s 2019-2020 Highlights

mthomp7 — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Population Health Center’s 2019-2020 Highlights mthomp7 Thu, 10/01/2020 - 07:00

The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program is a national longitudinal study funded by NIH.

The Mason: Health Starts Here Student Cohort Study is designed to answer questions about young adults’ health status during college.

Dean Louis speaking at the October 2019 opening of the Population Health Center.

Population Health Center’s 2019-2020 Highlights - A Letter from Dean Louis

Everyone,
This month we will celebrate the first anniversary of the College’s Population Health Center (PHC). As you may recall, the PHC’s official opening was on October 18, 2019 with Virginia’s Secretary of Education, Daniel Carey, giving keynote remarks for the 236 registered participants. Despite the marked interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PHC was able to deliver upon its threefold mission of interprofessional clinical care, research of consequence and professional development. We recognize and thank the PHC’s inaugural co-directors who worked to deliver our mission and position the Center for continued success. Specifically, Drs. Alison Cuellar, Caroline Sutter and Rebecca Sutter were responsible for directing the Center’s research, professional development and clinical services, respectively. Here are some highlights from the past year.

With regard to clinical care, the PHC has treated patients and communities in Northern Virginia and beyond with careful attention to the social determinants of health. Faculty and students have provided coordinated care for over 100 patients this past year. With donor support, we have built a telehealth infrastructure that enables practitioners to provide continuity of chronic disease management for over 800 patients who were seen across the Mason and Partners Clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. These visits have included the provision of preventive and chronic disease management, medication checks, substance misuse, and providing vital connections to food and housing resources. Supplemented by an additional grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (VA 0723-A58), we will be providing telehealth services to rural low-income residents throughout Virginia and West Virginia over the next year.

With regard to the design and implementation of research of consequence, the PHC supported the launching of two new prospective cohort studies that are currently underway.

Mason: Health Starts Here Student Cohort Study (funded by grants #215030 & 223707 from the Institute for Biohealth Innovation) is designed to answer questions about young adults’ aged 18-24 years health status during college. The Study has recruited 350 first-year Mason undergraduates who were recruited in 2019, and is currently recruiting 2020 first-year students. Participants undergo a physical examination, complete diet and lifestyle questionnaires and provide blood, urine and saliva biospecimens for future biomarker research. Health information is reported back to participants empowering them to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles with the overarching goal of ensuring health across the lifespan. Drs. Larry Cheskin and Alison Cuellar are co-principal investigators for this transdisciplinary collaborative research along with colleges from other colleges at Mason. Follow-on studies are being planned as are the initial scientific papers stemming from this work as it enters its second year.
ECHO Consortium on Perinatal Programming of Neurodevelopment is a seven-year grant (5UH3OD023337-04) funded by the National Institutes of Health whose goal is to recruit and follow approximately 1,750 children from Northern Virginia across sensitive developmental windows to delineate the impact of environmental exposures on children’s neurodevelopment. ECHO is a national study with multiple research sites across the U.S. Fortuitously, the study is now positioned to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s development increasing our understanding of how environmental-infectious agents may affect children’s health. Dr. Kathi Huddleston serves as principal investigator, and Drs. Rosemary Higgins and Germaine Louis as co-investigators.

With regard to training and professional development, the PHC offered various professional development and training opportunities for targeted audiences.

For health professionals, the PHC offered:
- 5 professional development events for 267 people of which 2 events provided 248 free continuing education credits for regional health professionals.
- 3 Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) workshops on COVID-19 with a focus on adolescents and myocardial infarction.
- Telemental health training opportunities for 26 students.
- Seminars for community groups (e.g., ImmunizeVA; Community Healthcare Coalition of Greater Prince William; Northern Virginia Coalition for Refugee Wellness; Prevention Alliance and Trauma Informed Care Network), while helping other groups in pivoting to online platform (e.g., Virginia SBIRT; Community Resilience for COVID-19).
For foundations, the PHC supported:
- Claude Moore Health Scholars’ program funding to build an online resource library to support and advance high school health certificate programs throughout Virginia.
For Mason, the PHC supported:
- Dean’s seminar series
- Mason’s Early Identification Program’s (EIP) to educate students about health careers to help ensure a workforce pipeline.

Despite the marked interruptions associated with the COVID-11 pandemic and the University’s move to online instruction and cancelation of all activities and events through August 2020, the PHC delivered upon its vision to be an experiential learning environment where students provide clinical care for vulnerable populations, design and implement research of consequence and engage with professional development initiatives for health professions and workers. Working side-by-side with faculty, we remain committed to the preparedness of career-ready graduates positioned to advance the public’s health through research discoveries, integrated care and community connectedness.

In the coming year, the PHC remains a resource for faculty. We will continue to offer clinical, research and professional development opportunities, including those originating either directly or indirectly from the pandemic. Drs. Rosemary Higgins and Caroline Sutter will serve as co-Directors for the PHC, and both are available to help faculty and our community partners advance our mission. The PHC is a valuable resource with endless opportunities for our College’s faculty and students, and we welcome bold and creative thinking so that we can continue to deliver the public’s health.

With appreciation of all that has been accomplished,

Dean Germaine Louis

College of Health and Human Services Faculty Receive Curriculum Impact Grants to Create High-Impact Learning Experiences

mthomp7 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:08:04 +0000

College of Health and Human Services Faculty Receive Curriculum Impact Grants to Create High-Impact Learning Experiences mthomp7 Wed, 08/19/2020 - 16:08

Transdisciplinary grants will support curriculum in areas such as physical activity, social justice, STEM in society, and global health challenges.

Recently, George Mason University’s Faculty and Curricular Activities committee funded eight projects from more than 20 submissions. The committee focused on proposals that would help prepare students to make a substantive impact on the world and deepen their engagement with Mason and their communities.

Themes related to global health, chronic conditions, cultural competencies, critical thinking, and health equity were found in many of the selected proposals. As evidence of the College’s commitment to transdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of health in all aspects of life, three of the eight projects selected include faculty from the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). The following are brief descriptions of the funded proposals that include faculty from the College.

Physical Activity in Health

CHHS faculty Drs. Ali Weinstein and Laura Poms will collaborate with Dr. Charles Robison (College of Education and Human Development) to develop curriculum that studies the intersection of physical activity and public health, including the theory, discipline and practice of kinesiology at the public health level. The curriculum seeks to equip students with skills to combat the increasing rate of obesity in the United States and associated chronic conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes by increasing physical activity. The cross-disciplinary collaboration will fill a curricular gap that exists at Mason and also provide students with a credential that will enhance their career development. By creating these new academic programs, the intent is to create a capstone course that allows students to integrate content knowledge in physical activity in public health with skills of policy and advocacy.

From Exploring Pathways to Developing Opportunities for Community Engagement and Social Justice in an Interprofessional Micro-Credential Program

CHHS faculty Drs. Caroline Sutter and Molly Davis will collaborate with Drs. Carrie Bonilla, Ellen Serafini, and Esperanza Román-Mendoza (College of Humanities and Social Sciences) to develop an interprofessional micro-credential program that addresses health disparities and social inequities experienced by ethnic and linguistic minority communities in the United States. The curriculum will prepare Mason students to serve the health care and social service needs of Spanish-speaking immigrant communities and provide students with opportunities to engage and interact with multiple community stakeholders. The program will be designed and delivered in a hybrid (online/face-to-face) format with affordability and flexibility for students as core considerations and integrate principles of interprofessional education and practice.

STEM in Society Minor

Dr. Laura Poms will collaborate with Drs. Vita Chalk, Larrie Ferreiro, Brian Platt, Cortney Hughes Rinker (CHSS); Padmanabhan Seshaiyer (College of Science); and Kamaljeet Sanghera (Volgenau School of Engineering), to develop a STEM in Society minor, which will help students in diverse majors across Mason, both technical and non-technical, develop strategic and critical thinking capabilities to better understand how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as medicine, impact the human experience. Completing the minor will give students a broad perspective of how STEM fields fit into the wider context of society and culture. The curriculum will develop skills employers are looking for, including strategic and critical thinking about STEM (and medicine) and its role in societies and cultures.

Enhancing Cross-Cultural Engagement and Collaboration at Mason through Explorations of Global Health Challenges

Drs. Megumi Inoue and Laura Poms will collaborate with Drs. Andrew Lee (Mason Libraries), Cortney Hughes Rinker, Michael Smith, Steven Anthony Scott (CHSS) to develop curriculum that fosters cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogues about global health challenges such as vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, increasing rates of obesity and drug addiction, the impacts of environmental pollution and climate change on health, and aging populations. Public health, anthropology, and history—in addition to other fields in the social sciences and humanities—examine health challenges and help to bring the different types of suffering that people experience to light. The main objective is to engage students in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogues about global health problems at Mason by designing a course module that integrates students from INTO Mason, CHSS, and CHHS. Courses developed as part of this curriculum will equip students with the skills and cultural competencies needed to research and work on national and global health issues and will focus on non-medical solutions to address these global health challenges.

School of Nursing Receives Grant to Provide Quality Care for Underserved Communities

dhawkin — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 15:55:48 +0000

School of Nursing Receives Grant to Provide Quality Care for Underserved Communities dhawkin Wed, 08/08/2018 - 11:55

By Jiaxi Zhang

George Mason University’s School of Nursing has received a grant of more than $1.3 million from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Building on the existing Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinic academic-practice model, this grant will enhance training and improve the competencies for advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students. This project will link academia and practice partnerships for enhanced student learning in an attempt to address health disparities for underserved and rural populations.

Dr. Caroline Sutter, associate professor in Mason’s School of Nursing and co-director of the MAP Clinics, leads and oversees this grant.

“By exposing APRN students to these concepts in their education we will produce graduates who are professionally prepared and who have an expanded skill set focused on wellness and population care, with a renewed focus on patient-centered care, care coordination, data analytics, and quality improvement,” Sutter said.

In addition to the expansion of the APRN curriculum, twenty-six (26) $10,000 stipends will be offered to students in the first year of the grant and 30 $10,000 stipends the second year. This will be beneficial to students who participate in this specialized grant training and prepare them for providing quality care for underserved and marginalized populations post-graduation.

Recognizing the need to educate practicing RN’s, preceptors and faculty on these same concepts this grant will also provide professional continuing education opportunities in a coordinated and collaborative capacity to anyone interested in expanding their skill set.

The project’s proposed enhanced community practice relationships coupled with expanded academic-practice partnerships, will address workforce diversification and training needs.

Work on the grant will start in July 2018 and be completed in late June 2020.